Well after a year with the GS I decided to move on to a newer bike..  Thanks to everyone on this board for answering my silly questions, and providing one of the best bike resources on the web.

My old GS was a good bike, but it had just suffered too much neglect by previous owners, which made me not want to put much more work into it.   The frame was pretty rusty from years of being left outside and it was pretty banged up, so I sold it to another sensible person (for considerably more than I bought it for, but it was also running far better).    Great bike to learn to wrench on without worrying about breaking too much stuff.

So now I "upgraded" to a 2005 Ninja 250   Seems like most people go up in displacement, but that Ninja is awesome.   $25/month for basic insurance up here in BC, Canada, and better on gas than my GS.    Also 16 years newer sure makes a huge difference in handling and feel of the bike, and if you're willing to wring its neck a bit, it's at least as fast as the GS on any fun roads (much faster for me because my old creaky GS wasn't exactly confidence inspiring, I think it was the suspension).  Its another proven bike that's been around for ages with a great community.  You guys have a better forum, but they have a better FAQ, so it about evens out.

Old bike (with a great windshield from a board member here!)


New bike


Thanks and ride safe.

Frame rust ... yea stupid suzuki didn;t even bother to freaking sand the frame free of the weld spatter before throwing the cheapest crappies paint that could find on it. Pityful.
And suspension ... crappy ... never ... take that back ... never ... oh wait ... 13 kat FE swapped on to GS'es ... maybe cos its the shitty suspension. OK. Just maybe ... but not a peep out of you ... traitor.
Kawi traitor. I am going to gift you some "green colored" toilet paper ... and no you may not know what made it green.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on August 06, 2008, 07:58:54 AM
Frame rust ... yea stupid suzuki didn;t even bother to freaking sand the frame free of the weld spatter before throwing the cheapest crappies paint that could find on it. Pityful.

Hah, yeah well it didn't help that some PO had installed the battery backwards and without the vent, which just about rusted through the left side of the subframe

QuoteAnd suspension ... crappy ... never ... take that back ... never ... oh wait ... 13 kat FE swapped on to GS'es ... maybe cos its the shitty suspension. OK. Just maybe ... but not a peep out of you ... traitor.

Yep, I was on the verge of replacing my springs, but then I realized I still wouldn't be satisfied with the whole thing after, so I bailed..

QuoteKawi traitor. I am going to gift you some "green colored" toilet paper ... and no you may not know what made it green.

Hehe..   Yep, I deserve it.   I'll get back to Suzuki at some point..  but when you're a student you need to take the deals as you find them...  Somehow the people around here seem to think their used, dropped, GS is still worth $4000...  Damn canada.

Verge of replacing springs ... verge of ... good, that kawi is the right thing for you, I have pulled out several springs off GS'es. Atleast 2 of them didn't even know it was progressive. The third was somehting (no clue maybe off another bike) I have it lying about somewhere. I may toss it into the FE I got and run it ... once I get a running GS that is ... to see what it does.
The GS suspension IMHO cannot be fixed with any kind of long term function. However ... so is the freaking ex, and a 250 is bound to be worse.
BTW do canadian EX 250's also have this huge ass bolt sticking straight down from the exhaust joint right at the bottom of the bike. Just there to catch the ramp loading the thing on a trailer.
Cool.
Buddha.

That's a nice ride you got. The 250 is a greaaat machine to wring out on the twisties and enjoy that awesome gas mileage at the same time.



(You can still hang out here though, allot of stuff is similar on these fun small cc bikes)

Quote from: The Buddha on August 06, 2008, 11:19:28 AM
The GS suspension IMHO cannot be fixed with any kind of long term function. However ... so is the freaking ex, and a 250 is bound to be worse.

Yeah the EX has similarly weak springs.  Gonna swap those out soon.  However on my GS it felt like the forks bottomed out when I hit small bumps (like the lip of a driveway) at low speeds.  It was definitely much worse than on this EX250.   I think stiffer springs + fork oil change would have improved things on the GS.

QuoteBTW do canadian EX 250's also have this huge ass bolt sticking straight down from the exhaust joint right at the bottom of the bike. Just there to catch the ramp loading the thing on a trailer.

Not quite sure.  There is a canadian EX250 which is significantly upgraded from the american EX (better suspension, better brakes, 17" tires), but I actually bought an american model that someone had imported...